On Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres described the control of COVID-19 vaccines by wealthy countries as "unethical" and "stupid," stressing that it paves the way for the emergence of potentially dangerous variants. Guterres said in a joint press conference with World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the inequality in access to vaccines "is the best ally of the COVID-19 pandemic." He added that this "allows variants to develop freely, leading to the deaths of millions more and prolonging economic contraction," asserting that "failing to secure equitable vaccine distribution is not only an unethical issue but also a foolish one."
The World Health Organization requested this year that every country vaccinate ten percent of its population by the end of September. Tedros stated, "56 countries failed to achieve this, but not due to any fault of their own," rather because of a vaccine shortage. The World Health Organization currently aims to vaccinate forty percent of each country's population by the end of the year and seventy percent by mid-2022. Tedros noted that "achieving these targets requires at least 11 billion doses of vaccines," emphasizing that "this is not a supply issue but a distribution issue." He explained that "by the end of September, approximately 6.5 billion doses had already been administered worldwide." He added, "With global vaccine production reaching about 1.5 billion doses monthly, supplies seem sufficient to meet our goals as long as they are distributed fairly."
For his part, Guterres affirmed, "We can reach forty percent of the population in all countries by the end of the year - if we can allocate around eight billion dollars to ensure equitable distribution," without specifying how this money would be used. To obtain the minimum required 11 billion doses, the World Health Organization is urging manufacturers to transfer technology and bolster the international "COVAX" system and the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) initiated by the African Union. The WHO also called on countries to share doses and to prioritize vaccinating healthcare workers, vulnerable populations, and the elderly before vaccinating all adults and then adolescents.
Tedros noted that the WHO has just adopted a definition for what is known as "long COVID," with the most common symptoms being fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive dysfunction. He explained that according to this definition, these symptoms are supposed to last for at least two months and cannot be explained by anything else.
